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"Mormons": Their Origins and Relationship to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

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BYU Studies Quarterly Volume 40 Issue 1 Article 2 1-1-2001 Russia's Other "Mormons": Their Origins and Relationship to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Eric A. Eliason Gary Browning Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq Part of the Mormon Studies Commons, and the Religious Education Commons Recommended Citation Eliason, Eric A. and Browning, Gary (2001) "Russia's Other "Mormons": Their Origins and Relationship to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 40 : Iss. 1 , Article 2. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol40/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in BYU Studies Quarterly by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Eliason and Browning: Russia's Other "Mormons": Their Origins and Relationship to The C FIG i nineteenth century ggegravee markers in a cemetery by mekhzavod village which is near samara in southern russia locals and latter day saint missionaries have tradi- tionallytionallynaily called markers with this peaked roof design mormon crosses despite the fact that the church was not officially established in russia until over one hundred years after these buburialsrials all photographs courtesy of the authors Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 2001 1 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 40, Iss. 1 [2001], Art. 2 russians other Morcormonsmormonsmormons55mons their origins and relationship to the church of jesus christ of latter day saints eric A eliason and gary browning in 1990 when the church of jesus christ of latter day saints estab- lished its first mission in russia the missionaries there almost immediately began hearing and passing on stories from native russians about long established mormon communities already there 1 whole tribes of native siberiansSiberians call themselves Morcormonsmormonsmons many people in villages around orenburg and samara are cormonsmormons but will deny it if you ask them my grandfather was a mormon but he died long ago are paraphrases of the more common story types these rumors intrigued missionaries and latter day saint scholars alike since the limited missionary resources of the early church and the effectiveness of both tsarist and communist opposition to foreign mis- sionariessionaries kept latter day saints from establishing an official presence in russia until Gorbagorbachevgorbachovchev s reforms in the late i98os198os there is no known his- torical evidence that the church had any converts in russia before 1989 except for one pre soviet era family that left the country nevertheless for over a decade many latter day saint missionaries and members scholars and various russians have assumed a historical link of some sort between these reported indigenous russian Morcormonsmormonsmons and the newly arrived church of jesus christ of latter day saints some sort of link seemed plausible since locals explained that besides sharing a name the russian Morcormonsmormonsmons also often did not smoke or drink had strong family values held secret worship services and may have once practiced something like polygamy the rumors even alluded to secretly transcribed copies oftheodtheofthe book ofmorodmorofmor- mon circulating in russia for decades based on such parallels some latter day saint missionaries tried to reintroduce the local Morcormonsmormonsmons to the official church but had difficulty finding them at times they seemed ephemeral it seemed most stories of lost Morcormonsmormonsmons in russia would be best understood simply as new additions to a vibrant body of latter day saint missionary folklore about independent mormon groups in remote areas 2 such folklore arises despite the churchschurche great care to go through the front door and obey local laws for example eager young missionaries occasionally circulate rumors about secret church organizational efforts in BYU studies 4040 no i1 20012001 7 https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol40/iss1/2 2 Eliason and Browning: Russia's Other "Mormons": Their Origins and Relationship to The C 8 BYU studies countries such as the soviet union in the ipos and 19803 and china in the 1990s199os that are closed to missionaries 3 however the whole body of stories about russian Morcormonsmormonsmons cannot be readily dismissed as enthusiastic but spurious rumor the existence of Morcormonsmormonsmons in various places in russia long before 1990 is attested to in the works of early twentieth century russian religious studies scholars such as S V bulgakov and timofei ivanovich butkevich 4 in the 1950s195osrussian Morcormonsmormonsmons came to the attention of john noble after world war II11 this american who was accused of spying served time in vortukaVortuka a soviet labor camp incarcerating many religious criminals near the arctic circle noble wrote assisting the mennonite bishop in the stockroom was another elderly man a mormon the cormonsmormons in soviet russia and its satellite countries are a very small group they are also relentlessly persecuted due to the fact that the belief in the book of mormon originated in the united states and that the international headquarters of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints is located in salt lake city utah there were only a handful of cormonsmormons in our compound but on their days off they would always meet for meditation and prayer 5 noble suggests that the Morcormonsmormonsmons he came in contact with were the same people who bear this nickname in the united states however bulgakov and butkevich both claim that some of russia s pre 1990 Morcormonsmormonsmons notably those around samara had nothing to do historically with the utah headquartered church of jesus christ of latter day saints but got the nickname mormon only because they practiced something akin to polygamy the dated and sketchy reports of bulgakov butkevich and noble leave a host of questions unanswered about why the term mormon was and still is being used in russia to refer to various people who are not members of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints and who may or may not practice a related form of religion apart from the informal reports oftheodtheofthe church s missionaries no con temporary research has focused on non latter day saint Morcormonsmormonsmons in russia today As with many smaller religious groups it was not clear if or how well russia s Morcormonsmormonsmons had survived the soviet era if living repre- sentasentativestives of these groups could be contacted and interviewed perhaps a tangled knot of puzzling historical questions about the origins and current status of russian cormonsmormons could begin to be unraveled the results could provide insight into the issues of survival and representation that many marginalized religious movements have faced latter day saint missionary reports in late 1998 and early 1999 detailed firsthand accounts from return- ing latter day saint missionaries who had actually spoken with russian Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 2001 3 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 40, Iss. 1 [2001], Art. 2 russiasdussiasRussias other cormonsMormormonsmons 9 cormonsmormons began to surface tania rands lyon now a sociology doctoral candidate at princeton compiled a wide ranging report identifying barnaalbarnaulBarnaul amskomsk orenburg and samara as likely places where contemporary russian Morcormonsmormonsmons might live she recounts a conversation she had in 1998 with a woman in samara babushka nadia who tacitly admitted to being mor- monmorfmorc but denied knowing anything about joseph smith or the book of mormon the woman balked at lyonlyons s request to attend a service explain- ing they were as sacred and as off limits to outsiders as latter day saint temple ceremonies 6 james scott now a brigham young university undergraduate served in the mission office of sheridan T gashler the russia samara mission president from 1998 to 20012001 at president Gashgashlerslers request elder scott wrote a careful detailed report chroniclingchronicling latter day saint missionary encounters with russians who pointed out Mormormonmons neighborhoods and in at least one oft repeated case mentioned having seen a very old hand transcribed copy ofoftheodthethe book ofofmormonmormon locals claimed Morcormonsmormonsmons had long lived in their area did not drink or smoke and worshippedworshipped secretly elder scott identified three separate areas ofsuchofsuch talk ofMorcormonsofmormonsmormonsmons in and around samara the ninth microregionMicroregion in samara itself the village ofmekhzavodofmekhzavod or nineteenth kilometer near samara city limits and the village of bogdanovkabogdanovskaBogdanovka about one hundred kilometers away A cemetery near mekhzavod displayed many examples of an unusual cross with a peaked roof see fig i p 6 from the locals the latter day saint mission- aries had learned to call these mormon crosses 1173170177 with the permission oftheofodthethe area presidency president gashler assigned elders justin cooper and brent van every to bogdanovkabogdanovskaBogdanovka village in spring 1998 the Morcormonsmormonsmons proved elusive and other villagers unreceptive to the missionaries message president gashler withdrew the missionaries imme diately after seemingly hostile men in a car almost ran them down 8 president gashler has played a major role in every attempt to docu- ment and disseminate information about pre perestroika
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